In order to improve transparency and efficiency of cooperative societies, the government plans to computerize about 65,000 cooperative societies by March 2024, according to Nabard Chairman Shaji K V. As part of the National Level Monitoring and Implementation Committee and Ministry of Cooperation, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) is responsible for managing the computerisation of cooperative societies.
We are targeting 65,000 cooperative societies to be digitised by March 2024,” he said at a conference organized by Sa Dhan.
According to him, cooperatives have been inefficient in recent years, but efforts are being made to address this issue by increasing transparency and integrating them into the value chain.. Nabard is currently developing a data warehouse for cooperatives and the rural sector, which is expected to be completed within six months. All stakeholders will be able to take advantage of this resource for their own and borrowers’ benefit. Shaji also highlighted the regional differences in microfinance exposure, stating that it is heavily concentrated in the East and South regions, with only one-third of it observed in the North, Central, and West regions collectively.
Whether we are effectively addressing regional disparities is the question at hand. According to our data, there seems to be inequality when examining GDP and National Income contributions. The southern region, with its strong banking presence, has a high credit to GDP ratio while the North and West, major contributors to national income, have low priority sector lending rates. Corrective measures are needed in this situation. In terms of gender equality, Shaji noted that Nabard is working with Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to ensure that this is taken into consideration when granting credit.
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